Post-Matric Scholarship for ST Students

What is the Post-Matric Scholarship for ST students?

Post-Matric Scholarship for ST Students is a centrally sponsored scheme of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs that funds the education of Scheduled Tribe students after Class X. According to the Ministry's Scholarship Division, the scheme is implemented through state and union territory governments, which invite applications online, verify eligibility and disburse the money directly to students' bank accounts through DBT.

The Ministry releases funds to states on the basis of their proposal, statement of expenditure, utilisation certificates and beneficiary data uploaded on the DBT portal. Across all its scholarship schemes, the Ministry states that around 30 lakh ST students receive financial assistance through DBT.

Salient features stated on the Ministry of Tribal Affairs portal

• Applicable to students pursuing any recognised course at a recognised institution for which the entry qualification is Matriculation or Class X or above.
• Parental income from all sources must not exceed Rs 2.50 lakh per annum.
• Two components: payment of compulsory fees charged by the institution, subject to the ceiling fixed by the state, and a maintenance allowance of Rs 230 to Rs 1,200 per month depending on the course of study.
• Funds are shared 75:25 between the Centre and states, 90:10 for the North Eastern and special category states and the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and 100% central for union territories without a legislature.

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs DBT portal shows Rs 3,854.38 crore released for the Post-Matric Scholarship in FY 2025-26 and Rs 359.69 crore in FY 2026-27 as of 31 July 2026.

Who is eligible for the Post-Matric Scholarship for ST students?

You can apply if:

• You belong to a Scheduled Tribe notified for your state, with a valid ST certificate from the competent authority.
• You are pursuing a recognised post-matriculation or post-secondary course at a recognised institution, Class XI and XII, ITI, polytechnic diploma, graduation, post-graduation, M.Phil, PhD, or a professional course in medicine, engineering, law, management, agriculture or an allied field.
• Your parents' or guardian's income from all sources does not exceed Rs 2.50 lakh per annum.
• You are studying in India. The Ministry runs a separate National Overseas Scholarship for study abroad.

You cannot apply if:

• You do not hold a valid Scheduled Tribe certificate; students of other categories are covered by separate schemes of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment or the Ministry of Minority Affairs.
• Your family income exceeds Rs 2.50 lakh a year.
• You are studying at the pre-matric level, that is Classes IX and X. Those classes are covered by the separate Pre-Matric Scholarship for ST students, which pays Rs 225 a month for day scholars and Rs 525 a month for hostellers for 10 months a year.
• Your institution or course is not recognised.
• You are repeating a class or have failed and are not being promoted, the guidelines make renewal conditional on good conduct, regular attendance and progress through the course.
• You are already drawing another scholarship for the same course from a source that the state has declared non-combinable.

On the income test, the guidelines add two clarifications. So long as either parent is alive, or the husband, in the case of a married unemployed girl student — only that income is counted, and no other family member's income is added. House rent allowance received by the parents is excluded from the income computation if it is exempt for income tax purposes.

How much is the ST Post-Matric Scholarship worth?

The scholarship has two components.

Fee reimbursement. All compulsory non-refundable fees charged by the educational institution are reimbursed, subject to the ceiling fixed by the state government concerned.

Maintenance allowance. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs states the range as Rs 230 to Rs 1,200 per month, varying with the course group. The scheme guidelines fix the top slab, Group I courses, which include post-graduate degrees in medicine, engineering, technology, planning, architecture, design, agriculture and veterinary sciences, and M.Phil, PhD and post-doctoral research: at Rs 1,200 per month for hostellers and Rs 550 per month for day scholars. Rates step down for Groups II, III and IV, with the lowest slab at Rs 230 a month. State governments are competent to decide the grouping of courses at their level.

Additional provisions

• Value of the scholarship also covers study tour charges, thesis typing and printing charges, and a book allowance for students pursuing correspondence courses, for the complete duration of the course.
• Scholars entitled to free board and lodging get maintenance at one-third of the hosteller rate.
• A place of residence approved by the head of the institution, shared by at least five students with common mess arrangements, is treated as a hostel for the purpose of the scheme.

For students with disabilities

What documents are required for the ST Post-Matric Scholarship?

How to apply for the Post-Matric Scholarship for ST students

Applications go to your state or union territory government, not to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. Depending on the state, this is done through the state's own scholarship portal or through the National Scholarship Portal.

1. Check which portal your state uses. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs states that states and UTs invite applications online either through the state portal or through the National Scholarship Portal at scholarships.gov.in. Your college's scholarship section or the district tribal welfare office will confirm which applies.
2. Register on that portal with your name, date of birth, mobile number, email and Aadhaar number, and note down the application ID generated.
3. Fill the application form with your ST certificate details, course and institution details, family income, hosteller or day-scholar status, and bank account details.
4. Upload the scanned documents: ST certificate, income certificate, previous mark sheet, bonafide certificate, fee receipt, Aadhaar and bank passbook, in the formats and file sizes the portal specifies.
5. Submit the form before your state's cut-off date and print the acknowledgement carrying your application ID.
6. Get the form verified by your institution. The institution nodal officer verifies the course, fee and attendance details online; an unverified application will not move to the state for sanction.
7. Track the application on the same portal. Once the state sanctions it, payment is made through DBT to your Aadhaar-seeded bank account via the Public Finance Management System.
8. Renew every year by logging in with the same ID and submitting the fresh mark sheet and bonafide certificate.

How to apply offline

1. Collect the application form from the district tribal welfare office or your institution's scholarship section, where your state allows offline filing.
2. Attach attested copies of the ST certificate, income certificate, previous mark sheet, fee receipt, Aadhaar and bank passbook.
3. Submit the completed form to the institution for verification and forwarding to the district tribal welfare officer.
4. Collect the acknowledgement and follow up with the district office for the sanction status.

Common reasons ST Post-Matric Scholarship applications are rejected

• Family income above Rs 2.50 lakh or an income certificate from an authority the state does not accept.
• Institution verification not completed before the state's deadline.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, so DBT fails at the PFMS stage.
• Name mismatch between the Aadhaar record, the bank account and the mark sheet.
• Course or institution not recognised by the state's approved list.
• Duplicate application filed on both the state portal and the National Scholarship Portal for the same year.
• Application submitted after the state's cut-off date. The guidelines allow late applications only on compassionate grounds, such as where a student becomes newly eligible because of the death of an earning parent.

Help and grievance redressal

• Ministry of Tribal Affairs: 011-23383303, with support lines on 011-23381652 and 011-23381903
• DBT portal grievance module at dbttribal.gov.in, where state nodal officers raise and track scholarship grievances. The Ministry's own snapshot shows 298 grievances received from states and 295 resolved.
• District tribal welfare officer for state-level sanction and payment queries
• Institution scholarship nodal officer for verification problems
• National Scholarship Portal helpdesk at scholarships.gov.in for portal and login issues

There is no fee to apply for the Post-Matric Scholarship. No agent can secure a sanction for you, and no official will ask for your OTP or portal password.